Coastal Resilience Job Training Is Catalyzing Wider Workforce Development Planning to Fulfill Municipal and State Climate Action Plans

Amount awarded: $9,799,687

The City of Boston’s Office of Workforce Development (OWD) is leading a large-scale collaborative initiative to develop and implement a Climate Ready Workforce Plan (CRWD) to help meet the objectives of formal city- and state-level climate action and coastal resilience plans.

Project Details

  • As part of the Office of Workforce Development initiative, the City of Boston is conducting a formal Green New Deal Workforce Needs Assessment. Although not yet completed at the time of this writing, preliminary indications suggest that more than 160,000 workers in 45 different occupations will be needed in the next quarter century to design, implement, and operate the city’s green economy. These figures include both existing workers and occupations and new hires.
  • The OWD has secured commitments from state and municipal agencies, large construction firms, and small businesses to hire 1,277 trained entry-level workers to help meet green workforce needs.
  • Roughly 500 of these new jobs will be in the construction trades and other skilled trades. Trade union apprenticeship programs will provide training for these positions with a focus on energy efficiency, green energy, electric transportation and electric infrastructure, and sustainable maintenance. Community and trade and technical college curricula also provide a focus on energy efficiency, green energy, and electric transportation.
  • The City and OWD are supporting pathways to the trades through a historic Project Labor Agreement (PLA) signed with the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions and the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. The top-performing half of each graduating class from each of six programs at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School––up to 50 students per year––will have guaranteed admission to preapprenticeship and registered apprenticeship programs.
  • Apart from the construction trades, the OWD is focusing its resources on training 645 people for entry-level and non-BA career pathways in skilled trades that address coastal resilience through green infrastructure, urban forestry, projects to elevate parks, and water and wastewater systems. According to historical completion rates, the OWD projects that the training program will lead to 485 new hires in stormwater management, installation and adaptation of green infrastructure, managing the city’s tree canopy, and landscape maintenance.
    • Whereas one of Boston’s largest construction companies is committed to hiring most of the 500 trainees in the construction trades, the City of Boston, State of Massachusetts, and small business landscape contractors are committed to hiring the 485+ coastal resilience trainees.
    • Under these initiatives the OWD is creating family-sustaining entry-level skilled labor jobs that provide salaries, benefits, and pathways for advancement.
  • OWD created the Greater Boston Coastal Resilience Alliance to lead this coordinated initiative. The Alliance includes public and private sector employers, trainers, childcare and other support service providers, community outreach and recruitment partners, labor unions, and climate experts.
  • The coastal resilience workforce training initiative is catalyzing similar efforts across the wider range of workforce skills that will be needed to fulfill the city’s Climate Ready Workforce Plans.

  • With 47 miles of coastline, Boston is vulnerable to significant flooding and inundation in addition to extreme heat and precipitation events. The city’s climate action and coastal resilience plans are based on a projected 40 inches of sea level rise by 2070 and an estimated $1.4 billion in coastal and river flood damage if no adaptation steps are taken.
  • To mitigate these risks, Boston’s adaptation plans call for substantial investments in nature-based solutions, green infrastructure, urban forestry, flood management infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, and other measures.
  • These investments are part of a comprehensive climate action plan that also includes a $2 billion overhaul of school facilities, $50 million for decarbonization of public housing units, and $30 million to electrify the City’s vehicle fleet and install charging stations.

  • At the time of this writing, OWD has secured partnership commitments and is engaged in the planning and design process.
  • The Green New Deal Workforce Needs Assessment and other OWD initiatives have identified several challenges that the coastal resilience workforce initiative is addressing:
    • The workforce development and educational departments of Boston’s community colleges operate sustainability certification programs that emphasize energy efficiency, building maintenance, sustainable energy (e.g., solar installer certifications), and the transition to electric vehicles. Trade union apprenticeship programs have, likewise, focused primarily on energy management, construction materials and processes, and electric vehicles. The OWD is bringing coastal resilience, stormwater management, nature-based solutions, and water and wastewater operations into these education and training pipelines.
    • Many employers have identified soft skills and teamwork skills as critical criteria for hiring and success. Training programs do not always provide the soft skills and teamwork skills that employers are looking for, so OWD is supporting training in these areas as well.
    • Young people are not getting driver’s licenses at the same rate as previous generations. In response, one training partner is organizing pre-training for learners permits and training for commercial driver’s licenses as part of its jobs training initiative. OWD is also piloting drivers education training programs.
    • English as a second language instruction, childcare, stipends, and “earn to learn” opportunities are being implemented to help the OWD recruit trainees in underemployed communities.
    • The cost of housing in Boston is high and encourages employees in good jobs to migrate to more affordable suburbs. In response, the city government is working to create additional affordable housing in Boston and has developed a comprehensive Anti-Displacement Action Plan.

  • The OWD received a $9.8 million Climate Ready Workforce grant from NOAA to develop and implement the coastal resilience workforce development program.
  • This initiative operates within Boston’s larger Climate Ready Workforce Plan and is integrated with multiple partnerships, construction labor agreements, goals for workforce diversity and local hiring efforts, and other programs.
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Project Lead

City of Boston Department of Workforce Development
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